


Gone

by SilverMoonSky



Series: ML Oneshots [65]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Angst without a happy ending, Character Death, F/M, Gabriel Agreste is an Asshole, Gabriel Agreste salt, Hawk Moth Defeat, Mentions of Blood, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Sad Ending, You Have Been Warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:55:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27249916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverMoonSky/pseuds/SilverMoonSky
Summary: The battle continues as usual. He’s facing Mayura, Ladybug’s facing Hawk Moth. It all continues the same way it had earlier, with each of them being well-matched with one another. Neither side seems to be winning or losing.Or so he thinks.Chat doesn’t see it happen.But when he hears a scream, a blood-curling one causes his mouth to go dry and his entire body to freeze up, he looks up.His blood chills.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Series: ML Oneshots [65]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1643566
Comments: 44
Kudos: 101
Collections: October 2020 - Dark





	Gone

It happens so fast.

One moment Ladybug’s by his side, the next she’s whispering to him, telling him to cover for her.

And then she runs.

She runs straight towards Hawk Moth, straight to where he’s grinning in malice, and although Chat desperately wants to follow her, desperately wants to ditch fighting Mayura to go fight by her side, he  _ knows _ that isn’t what she wants. There’s a reason he’s facing Mayura while she’s going to go face Hawk Moth. If his lady has a plan, it’s best he sticks to it.

Which is why they’re underneath the Agreste mansion, facing Gabriel Agreste and Nathalie Sancoeur—or rather, known as Hawk Moth and Mayura—in a final battle.

It’s a battle Chat knows they  _ have  _ to win. There isn’t any other option.

He continues to parry with Mayura. Neither of them are using their full strength, he can tell; instead, they’re both paying attention to the exchange that’s happening with Ladybug and Hawk Moth. They’re simply idly circling the two of them, waiting for something to happen.

“It’s over,” Ladybug declares, standing with her back straight as she looks at Hawk Moth with defiance. “We have you cornered, Hawk Moth. Accept defeat and surrender your Miraculous.”

Hawk Moth is expressionless as he looks over at Ladybug. “And what if I say no?”

“Then we will be forced to take your’s and Mayura’s Miraculouses by force.”

Chat listens to their conversation with one ear as he continues to exchange parries with Mayura. At this point, it’s like neither of them are even bothering to try, and, when Mayura suddenly stops and motions for him to stop fighting as well, he does.

He’s secretly hoping Hawk Moth and Mayura will surrender. It would be so much  _ easier. _ He and Marinette could take their Miraculouses, and they wouldn’t even have to turn them into the police. It would be simple. It would be easy.

But, as he stares at the smirk that rises on Hawk Moth’s face, he knows it’s not going to be that easy.

“You mere children,” Hawk Moth says sadly, shaking his head in mock sympathy. “You really have no idea what it’s like to lose someone, do you?”

Chat narrows his eyes. If he’d heard this a month ago, when he didn't know who Hawk Moth was and what he was doing, perhaps he would’ve had a bit more sympathy.

But Hawk Moth is his  _ father.  _ His  _ father, _ who’s been playing off his mother’s “disappearance” and has instead been keeping her in a coffin underneath the mansion. His  _ father,  _ who’s been neglecting him for years in favor of chasing magical jewelry and terrorizing the city of Paris. His  _ father, _ who may have once been a grieving man, but is now only a shell of the person he used to be.

Chat’s numb to the information. It doesn’t affect him the way it would’ve.

“It doesn’t matter what you want the Miraculouses for, Hawk Moth,” Ladybug says. “They aren’t meant to be used for the wish at  _ all.” _

A heavy silence falls upon them. The tension is thick in the air as Ladybug keeps eye contact with their enemy.

“I’ll ask you one more time. You have the choice to accept defeat and surrender your Miraculous. Do you accept?”

Hawk Moth simply stares at her.

“Do I accept. . . .” Hawk Moth pauses. “No.”

And then he lunges.

Ladybug barely manages to swivel out of his way, Mayura’s fan jabs into his side, and Chat is once again thrust back into the heat of battle.

The battle continues as usual. He’s facing Mayura, Ladybug’s facing Hawk Moth. It all continues the same way it had earlier, with each of them being well-matched with one another. Neither side seems to be winning or losing.

Or so he thinks.

Chat doesn’t see it happen.

But when he hears a scream, a blood-curling one causes his mouth to go dry and his entire body to freeze up, he looks up.

His blood chills.

In an instant, Chat slams his baton into Mayura’s side harder than he ever would’ve by using all his strength, and she yelps, flying backwards. It gives him just enough time to scramble away.

He darts towards his partner, who’s currently clutching her side as she glares at Hawk Moth with malice in her eyes. Hawk Moth’s looking at Ladybug in horror—as if he can’t believe she’s actually hurt—but he’s reaching towards her ears just as her knees buckle, attempting to grab her Miraculous because she’s unstable—

But Chat gets there first. He uses his baton and slams it into Hawk Moth’s side just like he did with Mayura. The supervillain flies backward, and he scoops up Ladybug in his arms before quickly retreating to the other side of the room.

“Ladybug,” Chat says urgently, “are you okay?”

Ladybug looks up at him, her bluebell eyes filled with pain as she looks up at him. “N-Not really.”

“Where are you hurt?”

“W-We don’t. . . .” her voice falters. “W-We don’t have t-time for this.”

Chat feels panic rising within him. He glances over his shoulder to see Hawk Moth helping Mayura up to her feet. “Of course we have time. What’s wrong? Where are you hurt? We have time”

“Chat—”

_ “Ladybug,”  _ he whispers, “tell me.”

Her fingers shake as she slowly removes her hands from where she’s clutching her side. Chat’s head spins as he stares at the wound that's rapidly losing blood.

“Who did this to you?” he asks, his voice deathly soft.

“I-It’s n-not t-that. . . . bad. . . .”

“You’re bleeding,” he whispers.

Ladybug lets out a soft laugh, but it comes out more as a sob. “Y-Yeah.”

Chat feels his vision blur with tears. He stares at her, and she’s looking back up at him, her eyes fluttering rapidly in an attempt to prevent them from closing.

“You’ll be okay,” he says, holding her closer against him. “I promise you’ll be okay.”

“C-Chat. . . .”

“You’ll be _fine.”_ Chat’s voice becomes more and more high-pitched with each word he says. “You’ll be _fine,_ you’ll be okay, it’ll be alright, I promise, I _know_ it’ll be fine—”

“A-Adrien, s-stop,” Ladybug whispers just as a familiar beeping rings through the air. His breath catches in his throat.

_ No. _

“You’ll be fine!” he shrieks. He stares in panic at his partner’s earrings, which now only have four spots instead of five. “Fine! You’ll be fine!”

“You n-need to. . . . need to d-defeat him.”

“With you! I’ll defeat him with you! Stop acting like you’re not going to do it with me, of course we’ll do it together—”

The moisture welling in his eyes is too much. The tears run down his cheeks and drip down his face and he bites back a sob but it doesn’t matter, because Ladybug, Marinette, his partner and his girlfriend the love of his life is  _ dying  _ and he can’t do anything about it—

Another beep rings through the air.

“She’s dying.”

Chat’s head whips around, and he clutches Ladybug tighter as he sees Hawk Moth and Mayura walking towards him.

“She’s not,” Chat snaps. “Don’t you dare come closer.”

But Hawk Moth does. He takes another step closer. And, as Chat looks up and sees Hawk Moth holding his cane—which now has a blade at the end—he also sees familiar red blood glistening at the end.

Rage courses through Chat’s veins.

It's the same blood dripping out of the wound in Ladybug’s side.

“I didn't mean to,” Hawk Moth says quietly.

Her Miraculous beeps once more.

Two minutes left.

Chat glares at his father, but swallows the urge to yell at him and instead turns back to his lady. She’s more important at the moment. There’s no point in wasting his energy when she clearly needs him.

“Ladybug,” he begs, _ “Marinette,  _ please,  _ please _ , you’re not going to die.”

She looks up at him with a faint smile on her lips. “I-I l-love you.”

Another beep.

“You’re not going to die!” he cries, trepidation racing through his head. “Marinette, you’re not going to die, please look at me,  _ please—” _

But it’s to no avail, because as the final beep rings through the air, she detransforms and goes limp in his arms.

Limp.

Lifeless.

_ Gone. _

Chat’s vision turns red. He stares at his partner in his arms, before looking back up at Hawk Moth. His father is watching him with. . . . guilt? Remorse? Sorrow?

Maybe once upon a time, Chat would’ve taken that into account. Maybe if this happened at another time, in a different way, Chat would’ve realized his father regrets what he’s done and actually feel sympathy for him.

But this? What has just happened now?

_ This _ is unforgivable.

Chat gently lets go of Marinette’s body and places her onto the side. It’s only after he lets her go that he realizes he’s covered in blood, but in all honesty, he could care less. Tikki hovers over her chosen’s head as he gets to his feet. He turns to face Hawk Moth.

He’s looking at Marinette in surprise. As if he didn't know who was behind the Ladybug mask until now.

Which means at this point, he’s probably figured out that Chat Noir is Adrien.

But in all honesty? He could care less.

“How dare you,” Chat hisses, his voice quiet yet vibrating throughout the room. “How  _ dare _ you.”

Hawk Moth simply stares back at him, expressionless. “I had no idea Ladybug was Marinette.”

“That doesn’t excuse what you did,” he growls.

“It was an accident.”

“You  _ killed  _ her.”

Hawk Moth is silent.

“How do you  _ accidentally _ stab someone? How do you  _ accidentally  _ kill someone? How can you see that you killed the person your son loves the most and just  _ stand _ there?  _ How, _ father?”

Chat stands here, brushing at the tears in his eyes as he chokes back a sob.

She’s  _ gone. _ Marinette, Ladybug, his soulmate, his other half, the ying to his yang. . . . she’s  _ gone. _

_ Gone. _

How did that happen? Isn’t he supposed to protect her? Isn’t he always supposed to be by her side? After all, they’re partners, it’s always been and always will be them united against the rest of the world. . . .

Only it isn’t.

It’s a lie.

It’s a lie because he’s  _ failed  _ her, he’s  _ failed _ her and now she’s gone and he’s alone, all because he couldn’t even protect her when she needed him the most—

“I’m sorry.”

Chat looks up.

“You know there’s a wish. You know we can bring her back,” Hawk Moth says. “All we need is her Miraculous and yours, and we can bring her and your mother back, because. . . .”

If his father says anything else, Chat doesn’t hear it. Instead, he feels his vision turn red with rage.

How  _ dare _ he.

How dare he even  _ suggest _ they could use their Miraculouses to bring them back to life.

Adrien loves Marinette, he really does. If he could go back in time and prevent this from happening, he would. But he knows that if he ever even  _ dared _ to use their Miraculouses to bring her back, it would be dishonoring everything she’s done to protect them and their city. It would be wrong. It would cause more destruction and harm than would be right.

Marinette has always been selfless.

And, despite everything in his being  _ wanting _ to give into the temptation, he  _ knows _ he can’t.

In an instant Chat grabs his baton, and lunges at his father. Hawk Moth gasps and just barely manages to avoid his blow. His father leaps away and pulls out his cane—this time, the blade is no longer there, but it still looks like it could deliver a fatal blow.

“Adrien, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You’re not a father to me!” Chat shrieks as he aims a blow at Hawk Moth’s side. He blocks it. “You’re  _ not!  _ You never have been, and never will be!”

“Adrien—”

“You  _ killed _ her, father! You  _ killed _ her!”

“I’m sorry—”

“You’re not! You can’t be sorry, otherwise you wouldn’t have done it in the first place!” Chat slams his baton harder and harder with each thrust.

“It was an accident!”

“I  _ trusted _ you,” Chat hisses, tears gathering in his eyes and making his vision blur. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you.”

Hawk Moth says nothing, and they continue.

In the end, the battle goes faster than Chat predicted. Rage makes him move fast. He fights like he never has before, and soon, Hawk Moth is lying unconscious on the ground. Chat rips off the Miraculous from his father’s chest.

Nooroo emerges, takes one look at the destruction, and bows his head. He says nothing.

Chat turns towards Mayura, who’s been standing off to the side this entire time.

“Well?” he growls. “Are you going to give me your Miraculous, or do I need to forcefully take it?”

Mayura’s gaze flickers towards Gabriel lying on the ground, and then towards Marinette’s body on the other side of the room. Without much reluctance, she takes her Miraculous off and hands it to him.

“I’m so sorry, Adrien.”

He simply turns away. “Your apology isn’t going to do anything.”

Leaving Nathalie to tend to his father, Chat walks over to where Marinette’s body lay. He feels tears well up in his eyes all over again as he crouches down beside her and gently brushes her hair away from her face.

She looks peaceful, almost as if she’s sleeping.

But he knows better than to believe that.

“Claws in,” he whispers.

Plagg flies out of his ring and instantly nuzzles up to his side as Tikki looks up at the both of them solemnly.

“I’m so sorry.”

Everyone seems to be telling him that.

But it’s not  _ their _ faults. It’s  _ his _ fault he wasn’t the partner Marinette needed him to be.

He stares at Tikki and Plagg, at the lifeless body of Marinette lying in front of him, of Nathalie tending to Gabriel. Adrien takes the scene around him in and doesn’t know what else to do.

He feels the tears start to roll down his cheeks. First quiet sobs, and then slowly building up and becoming louder, louder,  _ louder— _

He’s alone.

He’s lost everything.

_ “M-Marinette,” _ Adrien croaks as he holds her.  _ “Marinette.” _

_ I’m so sorry. _

**Author's Note:**

> This not-so happy ending hurts my heart, but if enough people convince me maybe I’ll write a happy ending :P
> 
> Join the [Miraculous Fanworks Discord Server](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) if you’re a writer, reader, or artist! It’s a lovely community filled with even lovelier people <3


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